New York to Orlando - August 2021

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by jothp

It sounds like you have a fantastic trip planned. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.

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Thank you so much, we are really looking forward to this trip. Thank you for reading and commenting

[Sparksy72]

So after a super fun year of postponing 4 amazing trips we are being optimistic and have rebooked for August 2021!

We have made a few changes, we have flipped our trip from 2020 and we have now booked to fly Manchester to JFK, New York for 5 nights, then from JFK to Tampa where we will pick up our hire car and drive to Naples for 4 nights. I’m super pleased as we LOVE Naples. From there we are at RPR for 8 nights before moving to Disney for 9 nights. We wanted to go back to POFQ but they aren’t currently taking bookings so we have had to make do with POP. We have stayed there previously so know what we are letting ourselves in for! Then we fly home MCO to Manchester direct. All flights are with Virgin and the internal flight is with Delta.

Universal were awesome and extended our AP’s, we have bought 14 day Disney tickets and we are going back to Discovery Cove, so also have access to Aquatic and Seaworld (the boys love the rollercoasters).

Hotels are: The Wellington in New York (we have stayed here previously and love the room size and location). Naples we are staying at Inn On Fifth (again we have stayed here before and love the location). Royal Pacific Resort is our preferred Universal Hotel and we have stayed here several times (I missed out on Club Level this year ) and POP Reaort is cheap and cheerful and we have stayed in a refurbished room which was great.

We are just so happy to be making plans, however we are totally prepared to postpone if we have to!

[Kat11]

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

So after a super fun year of postponing 4 amazing trips we are being optimistic and have rebooked for August 2021!

We have made a few changes, we have flipped our trip from 2020 and we have now booked to fly Manchester to JFK, New York for 5 nights, then from JFK to Tampa where we will pick up our hire car and drive to Naples for 4 nights. I’m super pleased as we LOVE Naples. From there we are at RPR for 8 nights before moving to Disney for 9 nights. We wanted to go back to POFQ but they aren’t currently taking bookings so we have had to make do with POP. We have stayed there previously so know what we are letting ourselves in for! Then we fly home MCO to Manchester direct. All flights are with Virgin and the internal flight is with Delta.

Universal were awesome and extended our AP’s, we have bought 14 day Disney tickets and we are going back to Discovery Cove, so also have access to Aquatic and Seaworld (the boys love the rollercoasters).

Hotels are: The Wellington in New York (we have stayed here previously and love the room size and location). Naples we are staying at Inn On Fifth (again we have stayed here before and love the location). Royal Pacific Resort is our preferred Universal Hotel and we have stayed here several times (I missed out on Club Level this year ) and POP Reaort is cheap and cheerful and we have stayed in a refurbished room which was great.

We are just so happy to be making plans, however we are totally prepared to postpone if we have to!

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Hi Sparksy! Your plan sounds fab. We are still plowing on with our August 2021 holiday. We managed to swop our PE virgin reward flights for Upper reward flights at no extra charge. Long story but we got very lucky.

We currently have 7 nights at CSR (after moving from FQ then to Pop) at a similar price to Pop. Then 4 nights at Hilton Buena vista palace at Disney Springs (we enjoy it at DS plus the hotel has balcony’s! 😁 ) then 4 nights club at RPR. We also managed to move our universal seasonal tickets from this year.

Now, here’s the new thought. 🤔 We cancelled a trip to New York twice this year (May & Oct) and we all really still fancy it, especially since our eldest is off to uni next September and we are struggling to rearrange before then. My mum made a suggestion yesterday that we add on NYC onto the end of our trip for a few days instead of trying to shoehorn another trip in before uni. So, we are now seriously thinking of doing that. I think it would be ok to change our virgin flight from Mco-Man to JFk-Man but worried that this would make it a 3 week trip and I’m not sure that’ll be a bit to long for us? But, at the same time it’s only one set of flights, one set of jet lag and two holidays in one. Im not sure it is too much to cram in? Our youngest isn’t so sure about it but our 18 year old is well up for it! I also worry about leaving my parents and our dog for too long as my mums been poorly and 3 weeks seems so much longer than 2 weeks.

Really, all we need to be able to do is make a proper decision? Are we able to go and are we able to go with little to no restrictions, (especially NO MASKS 😷 ) if we do go?! I can’t be doing with masks in august! 🥵

Kat

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by Kat11

Hi Sparksy! Your plan sounds fab. We are still plowing on with our August 2021 holiday. We managed to swop our PE virgin reward flights for Upper reward flights at no extra charge. Long story but we got very lucky.

We currently have 7 nights at CSR (after moving from FQ then to Pop) at a similar price to Pop. Then 4 nights at Hilton Buena vista palace at Disney Springs (we enjoy it at DS plus the hotel has balcony’s! 😁 ) then 4 nights club at RPR. We also managed to move our universal seasonal tickets from this year.

Now, here’s the new thought. 🤔 We cancelled a trip to New York twice this year (May & Oct) and we all really still fancy it, especially since our eldest is off to uni next September and we are struggling to rearrange before then. My mum made a suggestion yesterday that we add on NYC onto the end of our trip for a few days instead of trying to shoehorn another trip in before uni. So, we are now seriously thinking of doing that. I think it would be ok to change our virgin flight from Mco-Man to JFk-Man but worried that this would make it a 3 week trip and I’m not sure that’ll be a bit to long for us? But, at the same time it’s only one set of flights, one set of jet lag and two holidays in one. Im not sure it is too much to cram in? Our youngest isn’t so sure about it but our 18 year old is well up for it! I also worry about leaving my parents and our dog for too long as my mums been poorly and 3 weeks seems so much longer than 2 weeks.

Really, all we need to be able to do is make a proper decision? Are we able to go and are we able to go with little to no restrictions, (especially NO MASKS 😷 ) if we do go?! I can’t be doing with masks in august! 🥵

Kat

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Hi Kat! Ooh so exciting, your trip sounds perfect and how wonderful to get such an amazing deal with your points! Ours are also points flights but we are economy on the way out and premium on the way back. Upper Class sounds amazing!

Love all your hotels too, DS is fab and how brilliant to have your own balcony. There are some delicious restaurants at DS and nearby plus you aren’t far to The Outlets either! I love RPR, it is just so relaxing and to be able to walk to the parks is great too. I think Universal did a great job with the AP extensions, we were just so pleased with how professional they were. We are just looking forward to going on Hagrid’s again.

A confession now - we love New York so I am absolutely going to encourage you to go We went the first time when Cooper was 7 and he absolutely loved it. I was worried it might be a bit overwhelming but he looked at me at the end of our first day and said ‘When I’m a man I’m going to live and work here’. It is just such high energy and there are so many things to do and they are really diverse. We loved walking through Central Park, the Natural History Museum was amazing but also lovely and cool on a Summer’s Day. The boys really enjoyed Intrepid on the Hudson River and we even successfully navigated the subway over to Brooklyn and walked back to Manhattan over the Bridge.

We normally go away for 3+ weeks but I completely understand if you think it is too long to leave your dog and your parents. However it would save you money (points) on flights if you combine the trips and once you are there the internal flights are easy to navigate. Plus if you look enough in advance they are quite well priced! Ooh you have a really fun decision to make, I’m looking forward to hearing more. Michelle x

[smithlane]

Ooh this all looks great Michelle, it's going to be an epic trip!

What are your plans whilst in New York? Spending some time chilling on the Gulf will be perfect before some fun filled adventures in Orlando. We've never been to Naples but have never heard a bad review so will have to go there one year!

How fab that Universal have extended your AP's, that's great customer service right there.

We are exactly the same as you, we are loving making plans again but fully prepared to change them (again!) if need be! I am feeling cautiously optimistic for next year though!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

Hi Kat! Ooh so exciting, your trip sounds perfect and how wonderful to get such an amazing deal with your points! Ours are also points flights but we are economy on the way out and premium on the way back. Upper Class sounds amazing!

Love all your hotels too, DS is fab and how brilliant to have your own balcony. There are some delicious restaurants at DS and nearby plus you aren’t far to The Outlets either! I love RPR, it is just so relaxing and to be able to walk to the parks is great too. I think Universal did a great job with the AP extensions, we were just so pleased with how professional they were. We are just looking forward to going on Hagrid’s again.

A confession now - we love New York so I am absolutely going to encourage you to go We went the first time when Cooper was 7 and he absolutely loved it. I was worried it might be a bit overwhelming but he looked at me at the end of our first day and said ‘When I’m a man I’m going to live and work here’. It is just such high energy and there are so many things to do and they are really diverse. We loved walking through Central Park, the Natural History Museum was amazing but also lovely and cool on a Summer’s Day. The boys really enjoyed Intrepid on the Hudson River and we even successfully navigated the subway over to Brooklyn and walked back to Manhattan over the Bridge.

We normally go away for 3+ weeks but I completely understand if you think it is too long to leave your dog and your parents. However it would save you money (points) on flights if you combine the trips and once you are there the internal flights are easy to navigate. Plus if you look enough in advance they are quite well priced! Ooh you have a really fun decision to make, I’m looking forward to hearing more. Michelle x

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Hi Kat I have to agree with Michelle, I would totally add New York on to a Florida trip (sorry not sorry ). We did exactly that in 2018 and left it a surprise from the kids until the airport. They thought we were going straight to Florida! My two are the same ages as yours and they both LOVED NY, there is so much to do for all ages.
We also normally go away for 3 weeks and for me personally its the perfect length of time for a holiday. I do understand the difficulties of leaving a dog, we miss him massively when we're away but he is always absolutely fine when we see him. We're 'only' doing 15 nights next year and I'm a bit gutted we can't go for longer
Whatever you decide, have a fab time

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by smithlane

Ooh this all looks great Michelle, it's going to be an epic trip!

What are your plans whilst in New York? Spending some time chilling on the Gulf will be perfect before some fun filled adventures in Orlando. We've never been to Naples but have never heard a bad review so will have to go there one year!

How fab that Universal have extended your AP's, that's great customer service right there.

We are exactly the same as you, we are loving making plans again but fully prepared to change them (again!) if need be! I am feeling cautiously optimistic for next year though!

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Oh Alicia, trip research is about all that is keeping me going at the moment! We managed to do all the usual tourist attractions on our first trip to NYC like ESB, Top of the Rock, Central Park, Eatly, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, the Natural History Museum, The Statue of Liberty, Intrepid, MOMA, Nike Town and lots of eateries and also managed to get to the Theatre too. Abby suggested we go on ‘The Ride’, so I actually got tickets for it this year (but have been able to postpone) but would also like to walk The Highline, visit The Vessel, go to Katz’s Deli, explore more of Central Park, see another theatre show and see if we can find some batting cages for the boys to try out. Adam also wants to go back to Juniors for cheesecake too

We also ended up getting tickets for Discovery Cove, it was a Christmas gift from me to to us. It is such a lovely relaxing day and they had a good deal on. We try to go at least every other trip.

I hope your planning is going well too.

[sam7]

Sounds great. I have been to De Leon and Blue Springs and loved both of them (especially Blue Springs). Been to New York once, in February - during a 'polar vortex' not sure what that was other than bloomin freezing, so August would be so different. Have an amazing time, look forward to your updates and plans

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by sam7

Sounds great. I have been to De Leon and Blue Springs and loved both of them (especially Blue Springs). Been to New York once, in February - during a 'polar vortex' not sure what that was other than bloomin freezing, so August would be so different. Have an amazing time, look forward to your updates and plans

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Awesome, I will put Blue Springs down to visit first. It’s so nice to escape the theme park bubble and see the beautiful natural beauty spots.

Ooh a polar vortex sounds freezing! We have on,y ever been in August and it is hot but it didn’t stop us from doing anything. Thank you so much for your kind words and hopefully we will manage to get there! Take care. Michelle xx

[LizzyBear]

Following I'm too scared to rebook just yet but hoping things become clearer very soon and that your holiday goes ahead with minimal restrictions. I love New York and would love to take my kids one day but saving it for when they're a bit older.